The Mysteries of Underland
by Icy Metal and Frost Blue Roses
Summary: Everyone knows about the horror of the Jabberwocky attack that wiped out the entire Hightopp clan. Now all that's left of the town of Witzend are ghost stories and legends of the clan that once lived there and Anna, a local teenage librarian, is skeptic of all the stories going around and sets out to see what's really going on in the old town. Modern-day, eventual Hatter/OC
1. Chapter 1: Legends

**Author's Note: A new take on "**_**Alice in Wonderland**_**" that diverges off the beaten path just a tad, so bear with me on this. Expect nothing real special from this, but I will make reading this worth your while with interesting chapters. :) Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Please?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own "**_**Alice in Wonderland**_**", only the stories I write. Anna 'Miracle' is mine along with any other OC's I add to help the story along.**

_Chapter One: Legends_

"Did you guys hear what Jack did last night?" I heard a girl say excitedly.

"No. what did he do?"

"He went to the Hightopp mansion and threw rocks at the door!"

"No way! He must've lied! He's scared outta his mind to pass by it in broad daylight, where did this shot of courage of his come from to get him to go in the middle of the night?"

Giving up on my task of putting books away on the shelf, I joined the conversation and asked, "What are you talking about?" the other two teens looked between each other and the girl replied, "You mean you don't know about the Hightopp mansion? Stuff goes on there at night… crazy stuff, you know? Even by Underland standards."

"I'm afraid not. Why don't you enlighten me?" I replied, taking a seat at the table with the other two teens, listening intently to their tales of the mansion and what happened there.

"That's a cute story, guys, but it takes more than that to scare me," I said skeptically, crossing my arms.

"I'm not lying! I broke in there once and I _heard_ the footsteps in the hallways!" the girl, Mally, protested, looking to the boy sitting beside her. "Thackery was there, too! Didn't you hear the footsteps and voices?" she asked him and he nodded his head.

"I don't buy it. It's just a bit of ghost stories you're trying to scare me with. I'm sorry to tell you, but I don't scare easily," I said getting up and leaving the two behind.

"If it ain't real, then _you_ go to the house and tell us what you find!" Mally challenged getting me to pause and look over my shoulder and smirked.

"Fine. I'll go. If just to prove it's all in your head," I said, leaving it at that.

:+:+:+:+:

"You're going to _what?"_

"I already told you what I'm doing, Alice. I'm not repeating myself again," I sighed, tossing a pair of night vision goggles into my bag. "Didn't you hear what happened? A whole clan was murdered there! Anna, please don't go!" she cried, trying to talk me out of it.

"I'm going, Alice, and there's nothing you can do to stop me," I stated firmly, leaving no room for argument.

Slipping out of my house, I began the walk to Witzend, the place the massacre had happened. The walk itself was not anything exciting, but the more I walked, the feeling of anticipation rose in me at being able to see a supposedly real life haunted mansion.

Pausing a moment in the outskirts of town, I scowled and pulled on the night vision goggles I brought with me and looked around for signs of life. Satisfied with not finding anything, I couldn't shake the feeling of someone watching me but continued on my way as the mansion came into view.

Glancing around the town (or what's left of it), it looked like it would've been a rather cute little community had the buildings not been brought to the ground and the grass burnt. Whatever had happened here, it wasn't pretty. If this is the end result of the massacre, what this looked like the day it happened would've been traumatizing for anyone caught in the middle of it.

"That's it! Who's out there?" I shouted, turning full circle trying to find my stalker. After a few moments, I caught sight of a trip wire cleverly hidden in the grass and followed the wire to find it led to a cluster of trees to find large rocks and sticks sharpened to points ready to drop if the wire were to be tripped hidden among the branches.

"A dead man's trap," I said to myself, carefully stepping around it and scanned the area for more traps, surprised to find that there was a lot of traps set and ready to be sprung at a moment's notice. "Smart man, whoever laid them," I commented, looking up to the houses and jumped when I caught sight of a shadow on the wall within the house.

"The hell was that?" I murmured, turning and leaving the house alone for another time.

"What was it like? You went inside, didn't you?" Mally asked. The mouse-girl had been onto me the moment she found me among the rows of books in the store my parents own.

"I didn't go inside, but I did, however, see that Jack was lying. He wouldn't have made it to the door if he wanted to. I did some detective work on the mansion grounds and counted at least thirty different traps leading up to the front door," I replied, putting up a book.

"Traps? What kind of traps?" Mally prodded.

"Nets covered with leaves, holes with sharpened sticks in the bottom, and trip wires, mostly. If Jack really did go throw rocks at the door, he must have either _very_ good luck stepping through and around those traps or he has an excellent throwing arm," I said, shrugging.

"So... no footsteps were heard? Nothing?"

"Well, I did feel like someone was watching me and I saw a shadow through the window of the house," I said, disbelieving I just said that out loud.

"You saw a ghost?" Thackery shouted, getting people to give us strange looks at the outburst. "Will you be quiet?! I don't think it was a ghost. I think someone is living in that house and real scared of something coming for them," I whispered harshly, whacking him upside the head with a book.

"Would you go back to get proof of you theory if you could?" a new voice asked from behind.

"Yes, I would. All I need is a map so I have a layout of the grounds," I replied confidently, turning and gaped at the white clad young woman before us.

"I would be willing to supply you with the maps and history of Witzend if that will help you any," the young princess offered, smiling lightly when I replied with: "Anything you can give me regarding the Hightopp mansion would help tremendously." "Excellent. Not many people are willing to go near that place since the day the Hightopp clan was murdered. When you come back from Witzend, I would like for you to come to Mamoreal and report you findings to me," she requested, nodding satisfactorily and turned to leave when I gave her my word that I would report in as soon as I can when I have what I need from the old town.

As the days passed, I wouldn't do much of anything other than obsessively studying everything I could find on the mansion and the town surrounding it. When I was finally satisfied with my findings, I packed my bag with what I needed and headed off for Witzend once again to put the myths surrounding the town to rest.


	2. Chapter 2: Myth Buster

**Author's Note: I'm gonna make this short, so listen up. Leave me reviews, people! Reviews make me happy and make me wanna write more! :)**

* * *

_Chapter Two: Myth Buster_

Standing on the outskirts of the property of the mansion, I thought briefly on what I'm about to do but shoved it out of my mind, ready to put the myths of the mansion to bed. Bending down to pick up a rock, I tossed it ahead of me to set off the chain reaction on traps ready to be sprung and took out a notebook and scribbled down the number of traps that were sprung on the outer perimeter of the land and what sort they were before picking my way around the mess up to the door.

"What on earth are all the traps for?" I asked myself, reaching for the knob of the front door, but paused when I heard someone call out, "Wait for us!" Turning to face the speaker, I sighed at Mally and Thackery as they stopped at the bottom step of the porch.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, watching the pair.

"Alice told us that you were coming here," Thackery replied.

"She also said you were going in the house tonight," Mally added.

Seeing as I wouldn't be able to talk them out of it, I decided to just let them stay. Turning back for the door, I tried the handle and smiled when it swung open with a creak that echoed own the hall from the foyer area. "Let's go. We got a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time till the sun rises and the parents find out I sneaked out here," I said, turning on a flashlight and passing out extras I brought to my companions as I began scoping out the interior of the mansion.

Every the house is massive, everything is covered with a good deal of dust and cob webs, an obvious sign that no one has inhabited this place for quite some time. _That reminds me..._ "Guys, keep an eye on the floor. With all the dust, just a little movement will unsettle it. If someone is here, they're bound to leave footprints," I instructed, shooing them off.

Deciding to take a peek upstairs, I made for the staircase and shone my flashlight over them, finding what I told the others to look for. "Mally, Thackery, I got footprints. Someone's here," I said, calling them over.

"Looks fresh to me. Someone was here not too long ago," Mally observed.

"Come on. They lead upstairs and if we can flush them out, we can corner whoever it is and find out why the guy's lurking around in a desolate place like this," I said, moving up the stairs and began looking around in the bedrooms.

"Now is where we split up. We'll cover more ground that way. If any of us finds anything, scream. Just the creak of the door alone echoed for a while and if there's anyone here, we already alerted them to our presence. They know we're here," I said seriously, turning away to start investigating the hallways with two terrified mouse and rabbit hybrids behind me.

Spying a door at the end of the hall that was slightly ajar, I went and nudged it open. The room behind the door led to a boy's bedroom. A young boy, judging by the colors and the small sizes of the furniture and toys strewn about on the floor. "This breaks my heart to think anybody would want to kill people, much less children," I said to myself, allowing my hands to ghost over the bed situated in the corner of the room. Looking to the opposite end of the room, I caught sight of a mirror and noticed it wasn't covered in dust. "Strange. Apparently, it's being used for travel..." I murmured.

Turning around to exit the room, I jumped at the silhouette in the doorway. "Thack, is that you? You almost gave me a heart attack!" I sighed, running a hand through my hair in exasperation. The figure didn't respond, taking a step into the room with me. We circled each other for a moment before I was on the end where I could bolt for the exit.

"Thack, this ain't funny anymore," I said, becoming distressed at the lack of communication from him. Holding up my flashlight, I shone it in his face, screaming when I found the room's second occupant is another human. The light and sound stunned him as he lunged for the mirror, disappearing from sight and I ran for the stairs.

"Anna, what's happening? Where are you going?" Thackery's scared voice called after me, using his speed to catch up with me as we retreated from the mansion grounds.

"Oh, my God, there was someone there! I saw him!" I cried out when the rabbit-boy cornered me to get the full story.

"Saw who?" Mally pressed.

"A dude was in there! He followed me into the room!" I gasped out, pointing frantically at the quiet mansion on the far side of the expanse of land.

"We didn't see anyone," she said, watching me with a bit of concern.

:+:+:+:+:+:

"Anna, welcome to Mamoreal," Mirana greeted, offering me a smile.

"Nice place you got here. I've got what you wanted from Witzend," I said, bringing an excited glint to her eyes as she took my hand and dragged me after her into the throne room.

"Mother, Father, this is Anna, the one I told you about. She has information regarding the Hightopp mansion," she said, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room as they quieted down to listen.

"Your Majesties," I greeted, giving the couple an exaggerated bow. "I have reason to believe there's a survivor running about the mansion at night." This got their undivided attention as they straightened in their thrones.

"Survivors? Did you find out how many?" the Queen asked.

"As far as I can tell, it's just the one and he's scared as hell of something to go out of his way to booby trap every bit of land fenced in around it leading to the front door," I replied.

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"More like I stunned him and he scared me. I shone a flashlight in his face and found green eyes and red hair. Freakishly pale skin," I said, recounting his description.

"And you didn't bring him back with you?"

"No, Your Majesty, he escaped me when he jumped through a Looking Glass."

"That settles it," the Queen said, rising from her throne to approach me. "It's a miracle to hear at least one Hightopp survived. Now, then, Anna, would you be willing to go back to retrieve him?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "I know just the way to get him out in the open. His point of entry and exit seems to be a Looking Glass in a child's bedroom. And from what I can tell, he must be coming every night because the mirror looks brand new. He looks like he ain't had a bite to eat in a while, so maybe we can get to him through his stomach if he'd follow a trail we lay out for him," I said, scheming at least a thousand ways to get him, but tossing out most since almost all of them involved getting someone (read: him) hurt.

As the day wore on, plans were drawn up and food was cooked to lure young man into the open and it eventually came time to head off to Witzend.

Starting at the door, I swung it open all the way and set a basket down on the porch and started off to help lay down a trail leading back to Mamoreal.

(Hatter's POV)

Stepping through the Looking Glass into my old bedroom, I glanced around to make sure no one was in the room with me like the night before and started my way back down the hallway. I don't know what draws me back here every night, only that this place was once home to my rather large family. Pausing a moment, I cocked my head to the side in curiosity at seeing light shining through the door. Moving closer, I found the door was wide open to show a basket sitting in the doorway.

Crouching down to pick it up, I caught sight of a trail of what appeared to be bits of food. My stomach growled at me, getting me to go against my better judgment of staying in the house and followed it, making sure to pick up what I found as I went.

It was a good time later that I found the source of the food trail lead me all the way back to Mamoreal. Pressing my back against the marble walls of the gates leading up to the front steps of the castle, I listened as voices conversed among each other, picking out fragments of what they said.

"We should be seeing him any minute now."

"I hope he followed the trail-"

Apparently, they wanted to see me. Bending down to take a bit of food out of the basket, I took a bite out of it and glanced around the corner to take in everything. From what I could see, the entire castle is waiting for me to show myself alongside a young woman around my age with sun kissed skin and reddish-brownish hair and blue eyes.

"Hey!"

I jumped at the sudden proclamation and ducked behind the pillar supporting the gate and listened as footsteps approached where I am.

"Come on out, we know you're here. I see you enjoyed our little gift," a feminine voice coaxed me, her tone warm and soothing, further coaxing me to listen. Peering around at the young lady, I found she's more beautiful up close. She smiled, offering a delicate hand out to me.

"I'm Anna. You probably remember me from last night with the screaming and scaring the hell out of you with a flashlight," she said and I nodded, grabbing the basket she apparently left behind for me and took her hand, unable to get over how small and soft it is in my own calloused one.

Walking me into the open, everyone seemed to catch their breath in their throats as we walked towards them. Stopping short of the royal family, I watched as the King stepped forward and asked a random question in Outlandish. Cocking my head to the side, I remarked, "You realize you just asked if I noticed that you smuggled a fat cat in your pants across the border of Crims." That resulted in snickers erupting from everywhere and the man clearing his throat awkwardly before saying, "There's no doubt about it; he's a Hightopp."


End file.
